A Chinese paraglider is lucky to be alive after being sucked more than eight kilometres above the ground in a cloud vortex.

Liu Ge, who filmed the ordeal, said he was trapped in freezing temperatures of as low as -40 degrees while flying above the Qilian Shan mountains in northern China on Saturday.

Liu says he was pulled upward into the sky, in a process known as cloud suction, shortly after he jumped off a mountain, which was about three kilometres above sea level.

Due to the extreme altitude, he said he had trouble breathing and his hands were freezing cold.

“I just kept communicating over the radio the entire time,” he said.

Liu had no oxygen mask and video of his flight shows his face and clothes covered in ice. He said suffered severe frostbite due to the freezing temperatures.

Despite the lack of oxygen, Liu remained conscious throughout his ordeal and managed to land safely.

A cloud vortex, also called a spout or eddy, is a rotating whirlwind of air within or beneath a cloud. 

In some cases the swirling air can be the precursor to a tornado.

Liu says he was left with severe frostbite. Photo: Liu Ge

China’s state-owned Global Times spoke to an experienced paraglider identified only as Ou who said Liu’s survival was “miraculous”.

He said while there had been other cases around the world of cloud suction incidents reaching 6000-7000 meters, few people survived such extreme altitudes.

“This is truly miraculous. His mental resilience was extraordinary,” Ou said.

Despite surviving the vortex, Liu’s ordeal is not over.

According to the Global Times, authorities have launched an investigation because air traffic authorities had not approved his flight plan after he failed to file the necessary paperwork. 

Chinese national aviation sports regulations state that even if a paraglider has a valid licence, they must first have airspace approval from air traffic control.

Paragliding flights are banned above five kilometres.

“Violators may face corrective orders from local sports administrations, with penalties ranging from warnings and fines to criminal charges in severe cases,” the Global Times reported.